Tag: wine

One more in the Point Pelee tally

On this trip, we got into one of those pointless couples discussions about how often we visit the Lake Erie / Kingsville / Point Pelee area: Annually? Periodically?

There is an objective answer to this, of course, and thanks to my blogging habit, I am now able to share. We were last in this area in November 2021. And before that, we visited in August 2013, July 2017, and August 2018. Note that I did dub this 2018 expedition “annual”, but that turned out only to be true that year.

At any rate, this year we again headed to those parts for a few days, rather than to Niagara, our more recent “annual” destination.

Monday, May 4

This spring has been reluctant to get and stay warm, and this was largely true on this vacation as well, even though we were visiting the southernmost part of the province. The very first day, however, was glorious: fully sunny, with a high of 21 C. We were not able to check into our Inn until 4:00—it was one of those self check-in places, and we didn’t get the entry codes until shortly before 4:00—so we spent the time ambling around Kingsville, even though many of its stores are closed on Mondays. We were able to get excellent lattes from a local cafe, though.

Jean was pretty tuckered from a bike trip the previous day, but I coaxed him into a walk to the waterfront. It was lovely!

Park with flowering trees, a gazebo, and water in the background, on a beautiful sunny day.
Jean was too tired to take photos on Monday, so you’ll have to make do with mine

We then recuperated on the patio of a little pub. I had a nonalcoholic cocktail based on ginger beer, and Jean had an alcoholic one based on prosecco. We also had fries and fried Brussels sprouts.

Despite the mild inconvenience of the late checkin, our Inn, the Heart and Soul Inn, was really great. It was conveniently located near downtown, and had beautiful rooms in what seemed to be an old house. Very good coffee and some nice snacks were supplied. Each room had a theme. Ours was musical.

Lamp and window with 45s affixed the wall, and a staff to the right of it. Also shown are snacks and a Keurig coffee maker, along with an Elvis book.
Also there but not shown in this photo: a tiny piano, a gramophone, more music-themed books, and more LPs on the wall

We couldn’t lounge too long, though, because we had a dinner reservation at North 42 Estates Winery, and we wanted to get there a little earlier to do some wine tasting. North 42 have a beautiful building on a nice property, and some pretty spectacular wines. We were especially impressed by the 2019 Cabernet Franc (not even their “estate” wine), which was so smooth and fruity. And by the “estate” Pinot Noir, somewhat bigger than Ontario Pinots can be, and very complex. But we also enjoyed their Gewurtz and Sauvignon Blanc.

It was a quiet day at the winery, and we were able to segue seamlessly from the tasting to the dinner, while sitting out on the patio again. We enjoyed our meal of shared mussels with sparkling Riesling (also shared). I then had the beet linguini, which was very creative and fresh and served with Sauvignon Blanc, while Jean had the nicely prepared pork with delicious potato puree, served with the afore-mentioned Pinot.

The pub snacks had left us too full for dessert, alas.

Tuesday, May 5

One thing I’d learned during my pre-trip research is that it was a bit difficult to find a place that served breakfast before 9 AM in Kingsville. There was one, though: Jim’s Sub Shop. This is what we tried. It offered pretty serviceable egg-based breakfast items. Jim was quite personable and fun to chat with.

Unlike our sunny first day, Tuesday was cool and rainy. We headed to Amherstburg, and stopped in at the Freedom Museum, which focuses on African-Canadian history. It consists of two buildings: a former homestead that displays items from that time, and to which a larger exhibit space has been attached, and a Black church. We got a personal tour of both buildings. I had heard of Canada’s role in the underground railroad for escaped African-American slaves, and it was interesting to learn that Amherstburg was a major point of entry on that network.

I heard not previously heard the shameful fact that in 1850, Ontario passed a Segregation Law that prevented Black children from attending the same schools as children of other races—to which the Black community responded by building their own schools. (Methinks perhaps the education I received on racial matters in my country was a bit sanitized.) I had to look up when and how that ended:

In response to the activism of Black parents, racially segregated schools in Ontario were gradually phased out. The last racially segregated school in Ontario, School Section No.11 in Colchester, closed in 1965. This was done after newly elected MPP Leonard Braithwaite pushed for the Separate Schools clause on segregated schools for Blacks to be officially removed from provincial education policy. The last racially segregated school in Nova Scotia closed in 1983 in Guysborough County.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

After that interesting but sobering visit, we had lunch at an unremarkable but adequate Italian restaurant, then went to visit Vivace Estate Winery. We’d never been to this one before. It’s small, and we were the only patrons. We did a tasting of the “Local Favourites” and the “Premium Select” wines. I found that their Vidal-based wines had a bit an off-putting barnyard scent. But I quite liked their Pinot Grigio, which was more lemony and complex than this wine typically is. Jean wasn’t sure about it at first, but was ultimately won over. We also enjoyed their Baco, Marechel Foch, and we decided to buy their port-style Cavatina without tasting it, figuring we’d enjoy it.

Small tabby cat on a stair.
Big fluffy black cat on a bed.
Mostly white cat on a cat house roof.
We have no pictures from this day, but our cats seemed to be having a nice time with the sitter

Our dinner that night, back in Kingsville, was at Mettawas Station, an old favourite. However, we didn’t really love it this time. The food wasn’t the issue: we shared escargot to start, and enjoyed how they served them in portebello mushroom. I had a pasta special with lovely fresh peas and asparagus—the serving was too large, but the taste was good. Jean enjoyed his smoked mozzarella ravioli. We each had a different flavor of tartuffo for dessert, and both were great.

No, the issue was mainly the accoustics: it was just quite loud in here. Though not at capacity, there were definitely enough people that it was too many conversations to overhear. The waitress did a masterful job at managing all the tables by herself, must say, but we’re still not too inclined to go back, unless we could sit outdoors.

Wednesday

We didn’t want diner breakfast again, so we decided to wait until 9 AM to have more options. We first tried a whole-food brunch place, only to find they weren’t open on Wednesdays. We then stopped in at a little cafe called La Dolce Vita, but it seemed the only breakfast they had were smoothies and pastries. So then we tried the cafe we’d been to on the first day, but they only had pastries. Figuring it would be better to have a smoothie with our pastry, we went back to La Dolce Vita, only to learn that they actually had a bunch of fancy breakfast sandwiches and sides (like fruit) as well. Yay!

It was a very nice breakfast. In a very quiet room!

Weather was also enjoyable: not as warm as Monday, but sunny. So we decided to make this our Point Pelee Park day. But before that, because it made more sense geographically, we stopped at a winery near Leamington: Aleksander. We’ve been here a number of times, and always enjoyed it; this day was no exception. We were the only patrons, and had a leisurely tasting of a few different options, along with a charcuterie board. We purchased a full complement of types: white, rose, red, dessert (late harvest)—not all of which we tried this day; some we just knew from past visits we liked. The favourite we tried was the Amarouge, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chambourcin.

We then went into Leamington to visit the Arts Centre. They had a few different exhibits on: a student show, Far Out show, Things That Go Bump in the Night! So, an interesting, eclectic collection.

Clock with orange flowers around it, a gingerbread man below, and possibly sand and shells in the corner. Art piece!
One of the exhibits at the Leamington Arts Centre

We then made it to Point Pelee National Park. It was a pretty popular place, because this was prime bird watching season, and this is a prime bird watching area. But it was fine sharing the trails with the birders (though Jean remarked they made his camera looked puny). We don’t know our birds, beyond the obvious ones, but there’s no doubt we saw many ourselves during the hike. The big wild turkeys were pretty cool. But also the Grosbeaks, and the little yellow birds, and the brown birds, and the gray birds, and the black… (sorry; as noted, don’t really know birds!).

Large eagle in a sparse tree against a blue sky.
I do know this one, though! Hello, eagle. This is a Jean photo.
Black bird with red, yellow, and white on its wing: a red wing blackbird.
And this is a grosbeak red wing blackbird. And also a Jean photo. (Taken with his puny camera. Haha.)

Dinner was back in Kingsville, this time at Wineology, a restaurant whose Kitchener location had closed some time ago, but whose Kingsville location remained a going concern, albeit at a new location in Kingsville. It was a nice room: quiet (!), with cool furniture. We were almost the only patrons; the other tables seemed to be friends of the wait staff, which was a little different, but fine. It felt like a very casual night out, but with better food.

For whatever reason, Wineology still have American wines on their menu here (for those not in the know, American wines have been banned from sale in Ontario since the trade troubles). Jean tried to avoid them, but didn’t quite manage, as he selected two different flights per course. I went, eh, and embraced having a California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (even though I hadn’t really been missing them). The Chardonnay was part of the wine flight I had with my first course; the Pinot Noir I had on its own with my main.

The food was good and nicely plated. We shared a feta plate to start. I then had the truffle pasta (realizing only retrospectively that I selected pasta for every single dinner on this meal, although the first one was veggie and not carb-based), and it was quite lovely. Jean enjoyed his pistachio-encrusted lamb and mashed potatoes. For dessert, I think we ended up with tiramisu? I do recall that not all desserts were available, but that the one we got in the end was very nice.

Thursday

Was another beauty day, but also our last day of vacation. We had another breakfast at La Dolce Vita, stopped in at the Olive Oil store to replenish our olive oil and balsamic vinegar stock, and then we headed out.

Christmas in time

YouTube has these videos about the weirdness of the week between Christmas and New Year’s—that time when it gets particularly hard to remember what day of the week it is and you find yourself subsisting mostly on decadent leftovers. For example:

Hmm, I guess YouTube Shorts display really big in WordPress…?

Being retired also brings with a certain amount of having to work to remember what day of the week it is anyway, and I can confirm that this is only gets worse the week between Christmas and New Year’s, when whatever usual weekly activities you have set up are often cancelled or moved. So that the week did feel a bit “off” wasn’t too surprising.

What I hadn’t expected was the way that Christmas Day itself really snuck up on me. In my working times, I’d typically have the week between Christmas and New Year’s off, and usually a few days before Christmas, too. And I would plan ahead for that. What am I going to cook when. What events will I attend. What back burner projects will I move onto that front burner.

But now… Well… That’s closer to what my life is generally like so I didn’t need all these “special” plans. But, I did still want to do a Christmas dinner and maybe a few other event? And I didn’t want to be grocery shopping on Christmas Eve, and events weren’t going to plan themselves. I had to get on it.

Continue reading “Christmas in time” →

Trip to PEC

Black and white beach in Prince Edward County.

We selected Prince Edward County as the destination for our first post-retirement vacation together. Although we waited until late enough in October that we missed out on all the unseasonably warm Fall weather, we were still able to get some hikes in. And despite having visited this area a number of times previously, we still had some new experiences.

Highlights were:

  • The quite fascinating tour of the S.S. Keewatin, a decommissioned luxury cruise ship, at the Great Lakes Museum in Kingston.
  • Staying at the Jackson’s Falls Inn in Milford, where we enjoyed a king suite with Nespresso machine, excellent breakfasts, and an included Netflix account (hello, The Diplomat Season 3).
  • The informative and basically private wine tasting stop at Sugarbush Vineyards in Hillier, makers of excellent Viognier and Cab Franc and experimenters with adding a bit of maple syrup to wine (not bad!).
  • Dinner at the cozy Hartley’s Tavern in Picton, whose casual name belies the excellent food and service provided.
  • A rather stunning beach walk at the Prince Edward County Bird Observatory.
  • Finally making it to Three Dog Winery in Picton, where we enjoyed their excellent charcuterie board along with tastes of a good portfolio of red, white, and sparkling wines.
Front view of a narrow and tall cruise ship, flying a British flag.
The S.S. Keewatin. We went aboard!
A black and white view of a lakefront beach, with a cloudy sky and some trees.
The beach at Prince Edward County Bird Sanctuary.

For more details (and photos), see Trip to PEC, October 2025.

Summer’s almost gone

Oysters on ice with rose in the background.

And how did it go? Well, my plans were minimal—see family, see friends, do some outdoor dining while the dining is good… But even so, results were mixed.

Seeing family

Thanks to Jean arranging it (also with a number of his friends), I did get together with one of my sisters and brother-in-law for a canoe trip down the Grand River. The trip started just upstream of a small waterfall. We then had to stop ourselves before going down said waterfall, and maneuver the boats (and people) down it from the side, while walking on rocks and sloshing in water.

Various people in canoes and paddle boards in front of a waterfall.
Post waterfall. I’m not related to any of these people, but they were on this canoe trip with us!

This was a rather stressful start to the trip, particularly for my sister and brother-in-law, who, at that point, were still working on just getting the canoe to go in the direction they wanted. But we did all get through it.

And after that, it was a lovely trip down the river on a nice sunny day! (Or what Jean called “the boring part”.)

The long weekend of August, we travelled to Timmins—and so did both of my sisters! We stayed with Dad, and my brother hosted all of us for dinner one night, along with a few other local relatives. The occasion, we declared, was Dad’s pending 90th birthday.

Duck in the water.
This is a Timmins resident, but again, not someone I’m related to.

That dinner, and the other dinners and gatherings we had that weekend, were great despite the wildfire smoke in the air. One of my sisters traveled with us, and we broke up the return trip by we stopping over in Orillia. The highlight there was a patio dinner at Picnic, a tapas and wine bar. It was a nice day, with better air quality, and really good food!

So, I’d say that was pretty successful, especially if you also consider the Quebec City family gathering we had earlier in the season, and that another sisters gathering is pending, in September.

Seeing friends

We did see some friends in Timmins, and we managed the Blackshop outing in July, and Jean sees his friends all the time. But due to certainly valid reasons such as trying to sell a house, or getting sick, or traveling, I haven’t been able to arrange too much else.

So in August, I stopped trying to wait on doing certain things until friends were available, and Jean and I just headedout à deux.

Outdoor dining and such like

So here’s the run-down of, I just realized, all new (to us) places we tried this month.

Bodega Rose

It’s been open for about three years, but it was our first time there.

Getting there: It’s in uptown Waterloo, so we biked there. They didn’t have a bike rack, but we found a spot to park the bikes in front of the (at the time) closed ice cream shop window.

Reserving: Uses Open Table, and allows you to select outdoor seating, which is nice.

Service: Not wonderfully outstanding, but not bad, either.

Ambiance: They do what they can to block off the street from the patio, but it is a street-side patio.

Jean on patio with beef skillet.

Drinks: Some of the best iced lattes we’ve ever had. And a pretty decent wine menu.

Food: We went for brunch, so it was that kind of thing. My French toast was nice, and Jean’s braised beef skillet was very good.

French toast.

The Boathouse

A historic building recently reopened at Victoria Park, now with patio. Our first time trying it since that happened.

Getting there: It is in downtown Kitchener, and we biked there. There was a nearby bike rack.

Reserving: Was not going to bother, as it was a weekday, but at the last minute I did request a reservation. They use Touch Bistro as the reservation service.

Service: Strange. Upon arrival, we asked to sit outside, but they said there was no room—though it looked as though there was? We said we’d wait a bit to see if room opened up, and went outside to spy on the patio tables. After maybe 10 minutes, we did see two people leave, so went back in to ask for their table. Which they agreed to seat us at. While waiting for that to be cleared, a few more people arrived, and they asked to sit outside, and were immediately told that wasn’t a problem. (?) I remain perplexed.

Ambiance: Beautiful patio, because Victoria Park is beautiful, and you get a great view of it from here.

Drinks: We both ordered off the very interesting mocktail list, and were both pleased with what we got.

Food: Very good fries / poutine. Jean said his burger was fine. I had the burrata grilled cheese, which was just way too much bread for the amount of cheese, the taste of which was further overwhelmed by the zucchini relish. When they saw I only ate half of the sandwich, they did discount its cost by 50%.

The French

Believe this is a relatively new restaurant, with a partner one in Hamilton. This was our first visit.

Getting there: It’s in the Gaslight district of Cambridge, so we drove. Was a bit of a challenge finding parking.

Reserving: Recommended, so we did make them, on Touch Bistro. We were aiming for their seafood raw bar on the patio, and mentioned that in the reservation comments. We knew that option would get canceled in case of rain.

Service: The day was cloudy with risk of rain, so we weren’t sure what the restaurant would have decided to do about their seafood raw bar. On arrival, they told us that, despite what the Gaslight District tourist site said, they weren’t actually offering that menu at that time! Only brunch. However, they said they would still accommodate us and let us sit outside and order off raw seafood menu (and/or off the brunch).

I thought all that was excellent. Table service throughout the meal remained so.

Ambiance: Quite a nice patio, actually, because it’s in a quiet historic square in Cambridge. Restaurant indoors looked nice as well.

Drinks: They had a rose flight feature, whereupon you could pick three 2 oz servings among a choice of seven roses, one of which had apparently been dubbed the world’s best rosé. We were both intrigued by that, so we selected it and five others: two Ontario (one sparkling, one Pinot Noir), three French (“the best” and its cheaper cousin, along with another), and a Spanish. It was interesting comparing and contrasting those. “The best” was definitely the most complex, but the Spanish and the Ontario Pinot Noir were probably our favourites.

Close up of rose wine with others in the background.

Food: From the raw bar menu, we had oysters (shared), tuna crudo (me), and crab (Jean). Everything was delicious, though the crab was messy to eat. From the brunch menu, I added smoked trout salad (no, I wasn’t sick of seafood) and Jean had a foie gras danish—which might not be the best way to serve foie gras, but was still a quality dish.

Raw oysters with rose in the background.

Cox Creek Winery

This is a winery near Guelph that serves wood-fired oven pizzas and charcuterie. It was our first visit.

Getting there: We drove. They have a parking lot.

Reserving: Suggested but not required, but we did make them, using Tock.

Service: We went on a Wednesday, a quiet day overall, but with mainly one person to handle visitors. A couple was finishing up their tasting when we arrived, meaning we had to wait a bit for our turn to select wine tastings and get our charcuterie delivered. That was all fine. The server was very knowledgeable.

Ambiance: The winery is on a bit of country road, on a property with walking trails, so it was nice to sit outside there—except that there were quite a few wasps this time of year!

Drinks: Jean expressed some dubiousness about a Guelph winery, but they actually make some pretty nice wines—including a non-alcoholic sparkling. They also do some ciders and fruit wines. And they let us try the reserve Meritage, even though it wasn’t on the tasting list.

Food: No pizza on Wednesdays (we knew that), but the charcuterie board was excellent. They made their own relishes and honeys and stuff and Jean wanted to buy them all, but at this point, they aren’t for sale other than as part of the charcuterie board.

Worth the drive to Cambridge: Blackshop Restaurant

In the summer, we like to do patios when the weather cooperates, but the pickings have become slimmer. In uptown Waterloo, our beloved Babylon Sisters Wine Bar closed over the winter, following the early closures of S&V Uptown and Redhouse. Loloan remains an option, but it’s a bit of pricey one. Solé is booming, possibly in part aided by their appearance on OpenTable’s top 100 outdoor dining spots. But this brings on another problem, in that it can be difficult to get a reservation for one of the coveted outdoor spots.

CBC ran a recent article on some of the best patio spots in Waterloo region, which reminded me of another option: Blackshop Restaurant and Wine Bar. The thing about Blackshop is that it’s in Cambridge, about a half-hour highway drive from Waterloo. It’s not inconceivably far, but is far enough that we don’t tend to think of it when pondering where to eat out. Hence, we haven’t been there in about 20 years.

It was in a different location then, and under different ownership—the same as Solé’s, at the time, but both have been sold since to different entities. I had no idea if it was any good anymore, but the menu looked promising enough, and it did have outdoor seating reservations available, even on a Friday night, and the weather forecast for that day was perfect. So off we went, with some friends.

The restaurant is on a busy street in Cambridge, but the restaurant building is set back from the street, with the patio at the back, nicely decorated with plants and red umbrellas, so it makes for a reasonably serene atmosphere. Part of the patio is covered, so usable even in case of rain, but this day we were able to sit in the open part.

The menu is manageable in size and fairly traditional, with appetizers such as soup, salad, and seared scallops; and main courses such as salmon, duck, and steak. Gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are available as part of the standard menu.

The wine list is long and impressive, and even by the glass, there are some appealing and unusual options, such as Moscato, Appassimento, and Vacqueyras. There is also a nice cocktail list, including several no-alcohol options, one of which I tried—the hibiscus spritz, with pomegranate, ginger honey, and lime. It was very nice, quite refreshing, not too sweet.

We had semi-settled on menu choices when they told us about the daily specials, which did change some minds. Jean and I ended up starting by sharing the special of PEI oysters, while our friends decided to share the Brussels sprouts side dish as an appetizer (including letting us have a taste). Both items were very good, the oysters very fresh, the sprouts really tasty. I had a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with that, while Jean had a prosecco.

Jean stuck with duck as his main course, while I decided to try the fish special of the day, halibut with asparagus and risotto. The duck main was fantastic, the meat perfectly prepared. The halibut was also properly cooked and juicy, with tasty risotto and crisp Ontario asparagus. It was a pretty large serving, so I also had some for lunch the next day. Jean had the Vacqueyras with that, and it was amazing, while I had an Ontario Tawse Riesling named after the restaurant! It was also quite good.

Come dessert, we were told they made everything in-house, including the gelato, so Jean and I shared that, in three flavors. Our friends went with a different dessert that also came with gelato. Nobody seemed to regret their choices. Several of us had decaf coffees or lattes as well.

Sorry, no photos of the place or its food, but if you’re in the neighbourhood—or don’t mind the drive to it—you might want to check it out.

Niagara in summary

Espresso ice cream and chocolate moelleux.

Though we’ll probably be taking a break from this “tradition”, this year we again spent a few days in the Niagara-on-the-Lake area. I wrote up the full blurb here: Return to Niagara. This post is just a summary of the more notable items.

Best discoveries

Caroline Cellars and Farmhouse Cafe: Menu items almost all under $20. Glasses of wine $7 or less. Bottles of wine (to take home) under $20. And it was all very good! Not blow-off-your-socks good, but both food and wine were very enjoyable. Staff were friendly. A nice visit. A nice change.

Niagara Custom Crush Studio: It features the wines of multiple small wineries all under one roof, a cool idea that is well executed. On this visit, we tried wines from two wineries with very different approaches to wine making, which was super interesting.

NOTL: Treadwell’s sister restaurant, with a simpler menu and lower prices, but still excellent quality. And a bonus beautiful sunny dining room.

Weather report

Mixed bag for sure. We had one warm but cloud day; one cool but sunny day; one day with torrential rain / freezing rain / thunder / snow / wind; and yet another cool but sunny day. In between the inclement weather events, we did some walking and hiking.

Winery round-up

Best guide: Strewn, where our private, sit-down tasting was led by someone with a lot of experience and knowledge. Most fun: Fielding Estates, because we’re suckers for the snow globe experience (now done for the year). Best refuge: Reif Estates, from whence we watched the crazy storm while tasting wine and eating charcuterie. Most chaotic: Malivoire, who were supposed to be closed due to storm damage, but finally gave up and gave tastings.

The other dinners

Jean was underwhelmed by the offerings of Trius Winery, despite their Michelin star. Nothing bad—but maybe not star worthy? Beautiful plating, though.

Chicken pate with ornate topper.
Adorned chicken pate.

Treadwell’s was up to its usual high standards of food quality and wine pairings, but compared only to itself in the past, it was disappointing in terms of the experience. It was just your usual three-course meal with good service. We didn’t get our past feeling of it representing a really special night out.

Espresso ice cream and chocolate moelleux
Espresso ice cream and chocolat moelleux.

Pre-Christmas

It started with a bang.

Car with extremely damaged front end.

Two days before we were supposed to head north, Jean’s work car was struck by a flying tire on the 401, a major Ontario highway. This was both unlucky and lucky.

  • Unlucky: Getting struck by a flying tire
  • Lucky: Sustaining no personal injuries
  • Unlucky: Having to wait hours for a tow because of the location of the incident
  • Lucky: Was not a car we own, so ultimately not our expense nor responsibility

Handing off this responsibility did consume much of Jean’s next day after he was finally towed back home… Getting the police report in, getting the car towed the car elsewhere, etc.

But, we were able to leave as planned in our car the day after that. Automobile was chosen as the method of transportation this year because Air Canada’s fares have basically doubled, so even the “lower fare” period of early December wasn’t all that low.

It’s a long drive. We broke it up by stopping in to visit with Jean’s sister who lives in Sudbury, which was very nice. We also briefly saw one of Jean’s nieces, who is currently residing there while she plays for the local hockey team (and goes to school!).

Two young girls posing on ice with hockey sticks.
Not Jean’s niece. She’s somewhat older than these girls. But we didn’t take a lot of photos on this trip. This photo is by Oleksandr P on Pexels.com

The roads were mostly good, though we did get some blowy, slightly slippery snow near the end. We made it to Dad’s all right. Dad has just turned 89 and is still living on his own. He had a nice dinner prepared for us.

We then had two full days there, during which we managed to pack in a good amount of visiting:

  • We went over to see Jean’s other sister, catching up on family news over tea.
  • Jean met up with his brothers and most of their wives at a local restaurant.
  • A visit with old friends was a bit uncertain, as she was navigating her father through the hospital system. But he was discharged to his nursing home in time for us to be able to meet, which was great.
  • My brother, his girlfriend, and my nephew came over for a birthday dinner (both my brother and father celebrate around this time), which was jolly good fun.

We also got out cross-country skiing for the first time in years. We have some photographic evidence of that!

View of ski club buildings and trees.
The trails here are amazing. We did 5 km.
On cross-country skies in snow-capped tree forest.
The trees looked beautiful all along. Winter wonderland.
Me in front of Porcupine Ski Runners McNair Chalet.
No, it’s not named after me. But it is named after my parents, who have put in hours and hours of volunteer work here over the years.

The drive back went reasonably well also. Some slightly slick roads at the start, then a few somewhat intense flurries at the end, but we made it home without a bang.

Jean said that he felt as though he’d already had Christmas.

Continue reading “Pre-Christmas” →

Ambling, eating, and a bit of biking: Quebec 2024

A couple weeks before, I was feeling somewhat despondent about our pending vacation to Quebec City and Montreal, as the weather forecast seemed to be predicting rain, with some more rain, then a side order of rain. 🌧

But as of a week before, the forecast had completed flipped to sun, more sun, and a side of sun. This really perked me up. But I still had to deal with the jitters and the actual work of prepping to go. (Hiring a housesitter is great for the cats, but does mean having to prepare the house for a guest along with organizing oneself to be away.) 😟

The first night of vacation, I was back to dispirited. Lying in an overheated hotel room on a gray day in the uninspiring town of Drummondville, Quebec after an indifferent meal of St Hubert chicken, I wondered what the points of this was. Wouldn’t I be better off in my house, with its working air conditioner, and cute kitties? 😿

Six nights later, after a lovely dinner of French food on a beautiful patio with my best guy, I felt relaxed and content. Which I guess was the point? 🌞

Jean on a patio in Old Montreal.

Itinerary

We were away from Sunday, September 8 to Saturday September 14.

  • Day 1: Just a driving day; we got as far as Drummondville, Quebec.
  • Days 2 to 4: Québec City
  • Days 5 and 6: Montreal
  • Day 7: Another driving day to back home

Activities

Mainly, it was a lot of ambling, first around the Old Town of Québec City, then around the various neighbourhoods of Montreal. While no longer in the height of summer, Québec City was still pretty crowded with tourists, especially when the huge cruise ships were docked. But our hotel was very centrally located, so it was easy to walk to any part of Old Quebec.

Quebec City view.
Lovely view of the Quebec City port

Montreal is always a busy big city, of course. Our hotel was close to both downtown and Old Montreal, but not in either. So here we supplemented the walking with taking the métro. Figuring out the metro cards was a bit frustrating, but the system itself was great.

Leonard Cohen mural over patios in Montreal.
Crescent Street in Montreal

I was pleased to find how much my French came back to me on this trip—not that you can’t manage in English in both cities. But living la vie bilingue again was fun.

We fit in a few other items between the ambling (and eating. A lot of eating.)

Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilization)

It’s quite modern and interactive and full of technological gizmos. Featured exhibits on gladiators in Rome and wrestling in Québec were pretty good. But my favourite was the section on Québecois rap. There you had to don head phones that activated based on what exhibits you were standing near. You got the history of that type of music in this part of the world, and samples of it. It was kind of neat!

Map of the world in clothing tags.
The only picture I have from the museum. This map of the world is made up of clothing tags.

Ile d’Orléans

We’ve been before, so didn’t do as many stops this time. The best new discovery was Du Capitaine—Ferme, Vinaigrerie, Distillerie (the captain—farm, vinegars, distillery). We spoke at length with the owner and got to try various interesting vinegars and liqueurs, then buy a number for home use.

Flowers.
Not sure this photo was taken on the island, but it was definitely taken on this trip!

The best revisit was Vignoble du Mitan, where they make a lot of wines with the Vancliche grape that is native to the island. The guide to our tasting was very knowledgeable tasting, and we found that we enjoyed quite a few bottles, so they got patriated, also.

Bike tour

In Montreal we signed up for a three-hour bike tour of the city. This was possible for me because Ca Roule Montreal (Montreal On Wheels) offers ebike options for all of their guided tours. I of course went with that, and Jean decided to do the same. I was somewhat worried about riding an ebike that wasn’t the one type I had, and with keeping up with the group, but these proved to be no problem. I adjusted pretty easily to the bike (found it easier than mine, in some ways) and kept up no problem, given that the other five people on the tour (and the guide) were on regular bikes.

Map of Montreal showing bike tour route.
This was the route we took

It was fun. The other participants were five guys from the States who were in Montreal for the first time. It was mostly on bike paths, which are very good in this city and were neat to experience. And we were guided through the street parts. We would stop and the guide would give us facts about the city. The only riding I found tricky was through McGill campus, simply because it was so crowded.

On the menu

So much eating! It was a great week in these two very foodie cities.

Coffees and cafes

Sure, you can get a good latte and some nice pastries in Waterloo. But it felt like these were just so everywhere, and so good, in Québec and Montreal. And even Drummondville! Whether the Van Houtte coffee chain, the independant Baguette et Chocolat that became our Québec City breakfast go-to, or the lovely Columbian Cafe in Montreal, it was all caffeinated bliss.

The fancy dinner

Tuesday evening was also somewhat cool in Québec, which made patio options a dodgy prospect that day. We’d been talking about getting back to Le St. Amour restaurant for some time, and Google Maps reported that Tuesdays were typically their quietest day.

There was still some hemming and hawing over whether to go, because on perusal of their menu, we weren’t sure about the entrée (main course) options. But yeah, in the end, we went, early, sans reservation, and they were able to accommodate.

Amuse of fish-shaped cracker thing on little pates.
Appetizers of various kinds of foie gras.
At St Amour, not being disappointed by the amuse bouche and the hors d’oeuvre

The wine ordering was interesting, as the menu is 75 pages. We picked one bottle out (there wasn’t much by the glass), but said we’d be open to other suggestions. The sommelier came back with a map of the world to show the various areas of the lighter-style red wines he’d suggest and why. In the end, we picked the cheapest one he recommended, which was $105.

It was in fact delicious.

I resolved my main course dilemma by ordering a large appetizer to start—the beautiful platter pictured above—then followed with another appetizer, a seafood medley. Jean was more traditional, and had an actual main course of lobster. And we both had dessert. I don’t now remember what that were, but it was fantastic. The whole meal was fantastic, the room still beautiful with its natural light and high ceiling (excellent CO2 readings!), the service perfection.

Patio moods

We had many meals on patios, but they each had their own “feel”.

La Buchette. Now we’re on vacation: Our first meal in Québec City, this popular restaurant is right on the main St-Jean stretch. It had an excellent charcuterie board.

Charcuterie board on patio with blue umbrellas and glasses of wine.
Entering vacation mode at La Buchette.

Le Lapin Sauté: Cozy and casual. Located in lower town, they specialize in duck and rabbit. We had the main course platter; all good, with amazing confit in particular. The desserts were also nice. And we talked to people at the neighbouring table here, a rarity for us!

Umbrellas and a big pink man in lower town Quebec, looking up at Chateau Frontenac.
Le Lapin Saute is near this area. The pink dude was part of an art installation. He showed up in various public spaces in both Québec City and Montreal.

L’Echaudé: Joie de vivre. A discovery of the trip, L’Echaudé is also in lower town, a French bistro. The appetizers and main courses were great, and we were both excited to see tarte au sucre (sugar pie) on the dessert menu (which we had in the form of a dessert platter with other delicious things).

Dessert platter of tarte au sucre, creme brulee, meringue, sorbet.
Duck confit.
Lobster popper.
Foie gras with toppings.
Gallery of items from L’Echaudé.

Terrasse Place d’Arme: Cinq à sept night life. A rooftop terrace in Old Montreal. It was crowded (but not too crowded), there was music (but not too loud), well-dressed people, and a great view. Food wasn’t bad, either! Nor was the company.

Jean on terrace at Place d'Armes.

Boqueria Tapa Bar: Bustling. We stopped at this busy tapas bar after our bike ride, when drinks and some smaller plates seemed just the ticket at this point. The first picture on this blog post was taken there.

Bistro La Fabrique: Date night. Our last dinner of the trip was selected and booked just a couple hours before we went, and what a capper! It was at a French bistro on St-Denis, which was nicely decorated with fabric and plants. Though busy inside, we had the patio almost to ourselves (which the waiter was mystified about, as it was an absolutely gorgeous day). It made for a lovely, relaxed dinner.

The menu was very France French, with wine offered by the cL instead of by the bottle or glass, and items like rillettes, terrine, and tartare. I had the slightly less French (I suppose) squash ravioli with beets, Brussels sprouts, hazelnuts, and wild mushroom foam—fantastic. For dessert, we puzzled over what a verrine was (same word used on French and English menus), but ordered it anyway. Turned out to be a jar, filled with fig, nectarine, apricot cream, lemon foam, and hazelnut praline crumble. Mm, mm, good.

Hotels: Meh

The Drummondville Travelodge, booked in Expedia enroute, was renovated and very clean, but as previously noted, was difficult to keep cool enough.

Our Québec City hotel, Terrasse Dufferin, had a great location right by the Chateau Frontenac. But the room was quite small and a bit run down. The bathroom sink had two separate faucets. The shower had trouble maintaining temperature. The room could be a bit stuffy. There was no hair dryer. That sort of thing.

Quebec City port and Chateau Frontenac.
Our hotel was right around here.

Our Montreal hotel, Le Nouvel Hotel, was the biggest and newest of the lot, and had the best-functioning climate control. It offered a Chromecast-type television service, but I couldn’t work out how to connect my apps to it. It also had a bit of cockroach issue…

Precautions

We took some of those! Covid projections for that time weren’t great, but we were lucky enough to be able to do most activities outdoors, and then we supplemented with:

  • Mini HEPA filter for the hotel rooms.
  • Antihistamines, H1 (Allegra) and H2 (Pepcid), taken daily.
  • Nasal sprays before and after more crowded maskless activities.
  • Respirator masks, for places like the Montreal métro (where, hey, we weren’t the only ones!).
  • Laminar personal air purifier to blow clean air onto my face when indoor dining. Less obtrusive than I initially feared (you can see it in the pictures of the St Amour).
  • CO2 monitor, which is merely informative, not actually protective. Biggest surprise: The great readings on the Montreal métro stations and trains.

Whoo, that’s a lot! But if it’s still not enough, you can read this again, with a bit more detail on some aspects, at this location: https://culturearchive.ca/quebec-city-and-montreal-2024/

More summering, more updates

Because it’s the most important topic ever, I’ll get y’all up to speed on my latest hair colour, while also providing a bit of a “tour de restaurant patios”.

First up, at Loloan Lobby Bar, you can see that the hair is kind of rose gold (and also windswept, and also my makeup is quite faded, but oh well).

Diner with rose gold hair in front of plate with scallops.

We biked over to the Loloan that Tuesday for dinner, and partook of their new summer menu. It was very good!

Then a couple weeks later, behold the blonde look at our anniversary dinner (32 years married, 36 together) chez The Odd Duck.

Blonde in white dress at patio table with red drink in foreground.

I now I understand why Jean commented on how their patio lacked charm—I hadn’t realized til looking at these pictures how much of the street view he was seeing! My view was pretty different…

Coffee pot, cheesecake, man in sunglasses against patio walls.

… because the canvas did block the streetscape for me. (Also note Jean’s weight loss, hey?) We’ll have to trade seats next time to be fair.

Regardless of charm or lack thereof, we both really enjoyed the meal. They know their food, and their wine, at The Odd Duck.

I ended up selecting a semi-permanent colour called light golden brown to dye my hair. I was quite happy with the result. You can pretty much see it in the photo below (along with more faded makeup—I’m really bad about reapplying makeup) from our dinner at Arlo, in Ottawa, last week.

Woman with golden brown hair in front of plates of appetizers.

Arlo also had excellent food! It’s been a good run. This isn’t even a complete list.

A couple days after our anniversary dinner, we biked over to Babylon Wine Sisters to meet some friends for vino and a meal. Less elaborate than these other places, but still très bon. And perfect weather for it.

Woman with cheese ball and sauce.
This was some sort of cheese bombé situation…

And our other big dinner in Ottawa, at Fairouz Cafe, was also fantastic and creative. Halloumi cheese with cappuccino cream, dates, and figs; duck confit flatbread; babaganoush with shaved truffle!

Foregrounded Brussels sprouts, duck flatbread, with cappuccino cream and babaganoush in the background.

And between meals…

we did a few other things. The Friday before leaving for Ottawa, we went to see Something Rotten in Stratford. Lordy, that was funny! It’s set in the time of Shakespeare. Two brothers are trying to compete with him as playwrights. With the help of a soothsayer, they come up with the idea of producing the world’s first musical!

It ends up mocking / paying tribute to numerous musicals, as well as various Shakespearean plays, and it’s all just delightful.

As for the trip to Ottawa, that went well! It was very hot and humid, but we managed by doing our longer walks more in the morning, and spending afternoons in cooler museums or drinking iced beverages. Our hotel, the Sonder Rideau, was very spacious and well-equipped, and located right downtown, so that was all good. We visited KIN Winery, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and Rockcliffe Park. If you’d like more details and photos, I’ve posted them here: Ottawa 2024.

Ottawa Rideau canal.
Great photo by Jean from that trip

The poop scoop

I and fellow activists have not been successful in saving the Ontario Wastewater Surveillance Program, but there have been some minor accomplishments:

  • Quite a few media articles about it, in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, CBC, CTV News, the Tyee. The Health Minister got asked about it at a media scrum, which seemed to make her cranky. It’s definitely something, as other program cancellations have gone mostly unremarked.
  • The cities of Ottawa and London have come up with funding to continue the program, in a somewhat reduced capacity, for 2 or 3 more months. (Peterborough and Windsor might also have cobbled something together; not as sure here.)
  • The Federal government has given official statements that confirm the Ontario government has been lying about the reason for cancelling it (their claim was that the Federal government was taking it over):
    • The Federal program does not duplicate what the Ontario one did.
    • The Federal expansion will not result in a system as comprehensive as Ontario’s was.
    • Ontario did not consult or collaborate with the Federal government on coordinating wastewater testing programs.

I personally got a flurry of email responses about this in recent days, from the Mayor of Waterloo, the Chair of Waterloo Region, and my Federal MP, Bardish Chagger.

Won’t whine about the amount of wine: Niagara 2024

We don’t pledge to continue this annually forevermore, but there’s no denying that this is the third year in a row we head to the Niagara area around now. In a lot of ways, it’s a good time to visit: it’s low season, so somewhat cheaper, and quite a bit less crowded—often resulting in better service. Weather of course can be iffy but that means, sometimes, it’s not bad!

Same destination, but that doesn’t mean it was all the same activities. These were the new:

  • Visiting Reif Estate Winery
  • Staying at Shaw Club, Niagara-on-the-Lake
  • Reserving Wine Dome Lounge at Fielding Estate Winery
  • Staying and dining at Inn on the Twenty, Jordan

And these were repeats, though not necessarily “same old”:

  • Dining at Peller Estates Winery
  • Wine tasting at Strewn Winery
  • Hiking the Niagara Glen trail
  • Dining at Treadwells
  • Hiking the Twenty Valley trail, Jordan

Despite knowing I was heading into wine country, I would not have predicted trying a $100 bottle of wine, nor a sherry nearly as old as I am. And yet!

Continue reading “Won’t whine about the amount of wine: Niagara 2024” →